


Pearl Necklace and Emerald Eyes

by SadisticSiren



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: ....do I tag them as mermaids?, Fluff, M/M, Professional Mermaid AU, Real Life Mermaids AU, isafar, like the goal is fluffy and awkward pinning if that's ur jam pull up a seat, mermaid eren, someone tell me what to tag them as, yumikuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-05-28 01:44:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6309427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SadisticSiren/pseuds/SadisticSiren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Isabel dragged him and Farlan to the city aquarium, Levi was prepared to stare bored at colorful ass fish for a few good hours. No big deal.</p><p>Some fish are a lot prettier than others. And some of them even have abs. Levi's gotta admit, those ones are his favorite.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pearl Necklace and Emerald Eyes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CocoaChoux](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CocoaChoux/gifts).



> So this is the (late as shit) birthday gift for the lovely Goddess of Fluff Cocoachoux~ Happy birthday you fukcin nerd
> 
> So this is an AU we talked about a while back. Hope you enjoy~

 

“Giant ass fish….”

Isabel hummed in agreement. “They are pretty big… so beautiful and complex though! I like that white, black, and yellow one up there, kinda looks like a bird.”  Isabel pointed to said fish as it swam along near the top of the tank.

Farlan looked up from the tanks information panel to see what she was referring to. “The sign says they’re from a reef in Hawaii.”

A loud clap called the groups attention, the freckled man smiled at them as the group came together.

“And now, if you’ll follow me to our last stop on the tour before you can roam where you like, The Maria Cove, which is Trost aquariums most famous attraction!” The man smiled over his shoulder as he led the group down the building, walls made up of fish of all colors swirling together in schools and on their own.

The man stopped the tour in front of an arched doorway, a set of curtains tied away back hanging onto its sides. The inside was dark; you could see nothing without going in further.

“Well that doesn’t look like their leading us to the slaughter in a horror movie or anything…” Levi muttered to himself, but apparently he had not been quiet enough, because Isabel mock gasped and slapped his arm.

“Levi, knock it off! This is the thing I’ve been most excited about!” Isabel scolded, trying to peak past the guide into the much darker space.  The guide signaled for everyone to follow him in.

It took Levi’s eyes a few good moments to adjust to the change in lighting, eyes coming to when only a step more and he would have walked into a large glass wall. Said wall appeared to be part of a giant floor to ceiling illuminated tank, filled with numerous tiny colorful fish swimming every which way. Plants and shells decorated a rock formation with a treasure chest sitting on it, and a cave, dead center at the back.

Looking about the tank though, “I don’t see anything special about _these_ fish.”

Isabel rolled her eyes, still staring into the tank, scrutinizing every corner. “It ain’t _just_ fish, it’s a show!”

“What? Pretty sure a seal or dolphin show would be open tank… ”

“No no!  It’s a-“

That’s when the already dim lights in the hall all faded to a black, and any surrounding chatter came to a halt with all eyes falling to the tank, gazes anticipating.

Isabel smiled excitedly and smacked Farlan’s arm repeatedly

“It’s starting it’s starting, shut up shut up shut up!”

Farlan frowned, giving a questioning glance to Levi over Isabel’s head, who shrugged in response.

“Pot, Kettle called. You’re black.”

“You’re still talking, Far!”

Farlan sighed, eyes returning to the tank. “Alright alright…”

The room waited silently in the dark, staring into the clear water in anticipation. What were they even waiting for?

The seaweed on the leftmost front of the tank moved, and playful music started playing quietly in the speakers.

 

A girl with bright blue eyes and long blonde hair poked her head out of the plants, looking around and a surprised expression on her face when she noticed the people behind the glass. She cocked her head, looking to the excited little kids with their faces smushed against the glass, and smiled and gave a hesitant little wave. The children gasped and waved back.

 The girl swam forward out of the greenery, and Levi’s eyes widened at the pink frilly tail that flowed behind her. She swirled to the front of the tank, gave a wicked toothy smile and somersaulted forwards before she swam upwards in a twirl, swaying like a dancer as the music swelled.

  A girl with long brown hair tied back into a ponytail with an orange tail and a star fish in her hair, along with a girl with short strawberry blonde hair with a green tail swam down from the hidden top part of the tank, swirling along with each other waving to the children and putting a hand to their mouths before throwing the air in an arch shape, making the kids squeal in excitement. The two disappeared into the greenery and the pink tailed one from before made reappearance from the top tank, a mermaid with bleach blonde hair tied back and a dark purple tail with sleek white fins tailing behind her.

The pink tailed one waved goodbye to her friend before returning to the top of the tank. Purple tail brought a black tube that she had brought with her to her mouth for a moment, before putting her thumb and middle finger in her mouth as if making the motion to whistle. Then over the speakers, the whistle played like a voice over. The girl then looked around, waiting. And all the children cheered as a dolphin swam down to meet her. She greeted it with a smile, and grabbed onto its dorsal fin. It proceeded to pull her off to the side of the tank the crowd could not see as the music reached its climax, upbeat drums adding into the beat, the sound coming out as stereotypically tropical.

The light shone onto the cave at the back of the tank’s entrance, and Levi watched in an astonished daze as a male with tanned skin and a bright powder blue tail appeared, decked out in gold tattoos and pearls. He swam forward gracefully, as if he’d been born and raised with a tail, like he’d had it all his life.

The boy and the other mermaids all moved their tails and arms to the music, dancing together in the water and swimming past the glass and waving at the guests.  The two blond girls swam at each other from opposing sides of the tank, high-fiving as they passed, blowing bubble filled kisses and throwing smiles and waves to the people on the dry side of the glass.

 As the pair disappeared to the top of the tank, the orange and green tailed mermaids and the baby blue tailed merman swam down in a row from the top of the tank, spinning with the fish. The dolphin reappeared; the frilly pink tailed one chasing after it with a false frustrated expression. The dolphin was much faster, swimming in front of the three waving by the glass, startling them and making them laugh. Pink and frilly put her hands on her hips, staring off into the direction the dolphin went.

They all swam all over the tank, but all lost his attention, because the boy swam right up to the glass, right in front of Levi. He raised his hand to his mouth and winked while blowing him a kiss of bubbles.  He then laughed; eyes squeezed shut and the cutest smile on his face, as he swam up to the top of the tank, and out of sight with the others.

 

The music faded, and the mermaids all swam down again, just swimming around and waving to the kids, popping in and out of view.

“Alright folks, those were our mermaids! The mermaids are all very friendly, and today you can meet with Nerissa-,” The mermaid with the orange tail and long brown hair waved excitedly, swimming to be posed behind the guide. “-and Aqua!” The guide finished, and the purple tailed mermaid swam slowly across the tank, calmly making her way over to float next to orange tail.

 The guide then started explaining how the meet-and-greet with the mermaid would go, and that they’d be heading upstairs to the Rose Bay where they could speak with the mermaids. While he did so, the Orange tailed mermaid put up two fingers behind his head, and putting her finger in front of her mouth with a smile as to tell the giggling children to not say anything. Her purple tailed friend simply rolled her eyes, though Levi thought he saw a small upturn of her lips.

The guide clapped his hands, getting the children’s attention. “Say bye-bye to the others, kids! They’re gonna go play with the fish and dance in the reef now!”

The children’s chorus of byes and flailing arms would have been endearing if it wasn’t also kind of annoying, but none the less the other three mermaids waved as they swam up and of view. The guide announced everyone was now free to roam as they pleased, and told the people who wanted to meet the mermaid to follow him, the purple and orange tail duo swam up after their friends after waving to the crowd one last time.

Levi waited for Isabel to move to join the group, but she remained standing next to them, digging for something in her bag.

“Isabel, don’t you wanna meet orange and purple tail?”

“ _Narissa_ and _Aqua_ are what the guide said their names were! Can’t ya go with the magic for a little while, bro?” Isabel complained “And ya seemed to like it! You didn’t take yer eyes off the tank the whole time.”

“That’s because he liked the cute guy with the muscles and pearls.” Farlan chipped in, wrapping Isabel in a hug from behind, smirking at Levi while Isabel mock gasped.

“Hey!” Levi tried, but there was nothing he could do about the pink he could feel on his ears.

“Oh? Is Far right? He is, isn’t he? I mean, ya _were_ practically drooling. This side of the tank is supposed to stay dry, ya know.”

“Isabel…” Levi grumbled. He did not drool! And he was totally not drooling over a cute guy. Cute as he may be.

_Levi this is not helping your point._

“Admit it Bro! Ya like the kid.”

Levi looked back into the glass, the waters within once filled with the tanned beautiful merman now just filled with small colorful fish.

“Uh, Lee?” Farlan prompted when Levi didn’t respond.

 Levi didn’t take his eyes off the tank, taking a deep breath. “I… I’d willingly let that merman drown me.”

Isabel and Farlan shared a look. “He’s done for.” Farlan smirked.

 Isabel clapped her hands together excitedly. “Big bros got a crush! And the timing could not be better!” She then started rummaging in her bag again, tongue peeking out of her mouth.

“Isabel…” Levi warned, sending a light glare in her direction as they headed back out of the viewing room.

“Trust me; you’ll love me for this,” she found whatever she was looking for with a small sound of ‘aha!’, pulling out three cards with the writing of ‘Meet a Mermaid! Private meeting’ and a little cartoon of a mermaid on it. “I got us passes to ‘meet a Mermaid’ behind the scenes!”

Both males stared at her in surprise. “You what?” Levi croaked.

“Yep! I told ya I’d been looking forward to this! You’ll get to meet the Merman of yer dreams and ya get yer happily ever after!”

Before Levi could even consider stopping her, Isabel scurried away to find a guide to show their passes to. She reappeared with a short blond boy with an odd haircut, and he waved for them to follow. Farlan followed after and Levi stood there a moment before sighing and tailing after them.

 

He led the trio back out of the showing area and up the nearest set of stairs to the ground floor. The went through the employees-only door  and  they  walked down a few boring hallways passing a handful of doors that the guide explained led to supplies or changing rooms or the openings to some of the basement floor’s tanks or led to the spaces behind the tanks on the floor they were on.

 Truthfully Levi didn’t catch much of what the blond coconut was saying, still in a daze from the stunning performer they’d seen, gold tattoos and light blue tail contrasting so well with the dark skin and mesmerizing green eyes. The image was burned into his eyelids, and Levi was looking forward to hearing what was sure to be a gorgeous voice to match the face.

“Bro? Earth ta Levi, come in Levi.”

“Don’t bother, he’s fantasizing.”

Isabel laughed, shoving her hands into her hoodie pockets. “ _He wants ta be part of his world~_ ” she sang in a hushed voice, causing Farlan and herself to break out in laughter again.

 

 The guide stopped them in front of a door reading ‘Maria Cove; Backstage’, and pulled out a clipboard from god knows where, giving them a questioning smile. “This is where the mermaids go from the stage tank,” he looks at each one of them, before settling on Isabel. “Did you know which one you wanted to meet with?”

“The merman, please.”

The guide’s eyebrows rose, looking to Farlan and Levi for confirmation and receiving nods in return. He scribbled something on the clipboard before reaching for the door handle.

“People usually go for Petra because she looks a bit like Ariel, or to a lesser degree Historia as she’s the crowd favorite. Eren it is then.”

Through the doorway led to a huge garage like area, door included, hidden away from the public outside parts of the Aquarium. The warm summer air hit them, and Levi already missed the air-conditioned building.

 

 There was a small section to their near right that was decorated all fancy with a fake coral bench and in front of that place in the water, holding onto the side of the tank were the three who were not doing the children’s meet and greet.

“Petra, Historia, you’re free to go.”

The lady with the shorter ginger hair sighed in relief, giving the mer-Adonis a consoling pat on the shoulder, and the blonde cheered with a fist pump into the air, before they both swam towards the latter a little ways. How they managed to get out of those tails was a mystery to Levi, with how realistically form fitting they appeared to be.

Looking back to the merman in the water, Levi could confirm they were very tight indeed.

“Eren, these are the pass holders today.” Their guide gestured to the trio, Farlan gave a wave and Isabel gave him a big smile. Levi gave him a nod in recognition, feeling like the awkwardness radiating off him was tangible.

The boy blinked at them, looking between them and behind them, searching. He apparently did not find what he was looking for, because he looked right at Levi, bright green eyes hopeful.

“You don’t have kids with you, right?”

Levi snorted. “No, they’re not that close yet.”

Isabel choked and started coughing, and Farlan went red.

 “Levi!” They hissed in unison.

Levi raised his hands in defense, smirking all the while. “Hey! Sorry, sorry.”

Isabel wheezed, and glared at him while catching her breath. “Ya don’t _look_ sorry.”

Farlan rubbed her back as she got her air back, shaking his head at Levi like a disappointed parent. “It’s because he isn’t.”

Levi shrugged in a what-can-you-do motion. “Guilty.”

“Hello? I’m still here.”

And indeed he was. Still in the water, still draped with pearls and gold, and still _really_ fucking gorgeous.

“Hello, I’m Farlan, this is Isabel,” He gestured to the redhead with his thumb, and Isabel smiled. He then put a hand on Levi’s shoulder, tugging Levi out of his frozen state. “And this guy over here is Levi.” Levi, for a lack of anything better, raised a hand with a mumbled, “Hey.”

“Like Armin said, my name is Eren. I play Caspian, one of the two professional mermen working at Trost aquarium, nice to meet you. The Mermaid act is usually for the little kids, and is a bit cheesy, so did you want to ask questions or…? ”

“Questions sound good.”

Eren looked around, and Levi followed his gaze to a large clock on the wall. “If uh, if you guys don’t mind, could I get out of costume during your meeting? I mean I don’t have to but it’s kinda awkward and it’ll seriously save me some time.”

He looked to Isabel and Farlan, both giving him a thumbs-up. “No worries. Go ahead.” Levi answered.

“You guys are life saviors. Favorite interview all month, hands down.” He breathed as he swam on his back towards the ladder, prompting them to follow.

“You won’t get in trouble for getting out of costume early, right?” Levi questioned, worry suddenly hitting him. He didn’t want to get the boy in trouble.

Eren pulled himself from the water using pretty much his arms alone, _Jesus no wonder there was a thing about mermaids tipping boats with ease just look at those arms_ , and started attempting to get the tail off. “Nah Pixis’ cool. It’s my last thing for the day, and I’m off for the weekend. And I have somewhere to be after this, so as long as a check out I’m good.”

Levi sighed, relieved. “Good.”

“Can I ask a question now?” Isabel inquired, as Eren shimmied to remove the scaly, skin tight tail.

“Hold on… ” He grumbled, the tail like a second skin, and like a skin, not really wanting to come off. “Just a _sec_ … ohhhhhh…kay! Fire away!” Eren said chirped, standing up and beckoning for them to follow him.

“If it’s not going to ruin the mystery of the mermaids and all that,” Isabel started, “Can I ask how you were breathing? Like when you went up you probably went to the surface, but when you were in the cave and when the girls were in the plants and when you guys went down, how…?”

“Oh! Well there are a few aquariums that have their mermaids using tubes to breathe from, with pressurized air. We have hoses like that set up during shows in the plants, there’s one in the cave, and there’s some close to the bottom of the tank, out of sight. For longer shows we pull around one with us, like Annie was doing, but it doesn’t look as good when you’re pulling a black tube with you and putting it to your mouth every few minutes. Instead we just don’t stay in front of the people very long? And we’re quite good at holding our breath.” Eren explained, leading them out through a different door they’d come through, and told them to sit in the collapsible chairs. He stood in front of large mirror, the counter between them covered with makeup packets and clips and little brushes. Eren began wiping off the shimmery scale printed makeup from his skin, answering their questions as he worked.

 

The blond girl who had been wearing the pink tail, now in a pair of purposefully ripped jean shorts and a crop top that read ‘Bitch, I am senpai’ and sneakers, popped over to talk to Eren as she was passing by the area.

“Good show Eren.” She mumbled, appraising and nodding to the trio before looking back to Eren.

Eren turned from the sink, toweling off his face quickly before giving her a smile. “Thanks, you were great! See you for the above water show, Historia.”

The blond girl gave a small smile in return, then turned and walked over the taller freckled woman leaning against the wall, waiting. The taller leaned down and kissed her forehead before the two walked out the back room hand in hand.

“She’s a little more… neutral than her stage act would have you believe?” Farlan suggested, and Levi would have to agree, the upbeat sweet mermaid in the tank differed quite harshly from the girl they just saw.

Eren nodded understandingly. “She’s a great actor, she and her girlfriend bring the kids from the daycare they volunteer at, the kids love the idea their classroom helper is a mermaid. She’s cool. Just takes her a while to warm up to people ‘s all.”

“So uh,” Farlan started, “What do you do here? Like as a professional mermaid, or whatever.”

“Well uh, we do shows like the one you saw, most are in tank, though about two months ago we started doing little staged shows in above water tanks. We do guest diving programs where we’ll take guests in to dive with our sharks. We also do a lot of the grunt work, climbing into exhibits to clean them. That’s part’s not really a charming ‘mermaid’ task, but it’s gotta be done.” Eren explained, leaning against the counter.

Eren asked the trio to wait as he’d only be a moment, quickly doing the combination on a locker, opening it to reveal clothing, shoes, and photos of people Levi didn’t know stuck to the door with magnets. He grabbed the clothes before stepping into a changing area with a card on the door reading his name. True to his word, not five minutes later he was stepping out from behind the door, dressed in dark grey shorts, black flip flops, and a dark blue short sleeved button up, the top button left undone, soaking wet bathing suit in hand.

  
“Isabel started complaining that we’d skipped lunch and they went to grab something.” Levi’d responded to the confused look that was on Eren’s face at the basically empty room. While that was true, Isabel and Farlan had also left with the excuse to leave the two of them alone, but like hell Levi’d say that aloud. Eren nodded, reaching for the towel hanging on a hook, again with his name printed above it. He toweled his hair off, leaving it to messily dry, wrapping the soaked bathing suit in the cloth. All routine, and he’d almost forgot someone else was even there, reminded when he spoke up.

“How do you even swim in those things?” Levi asked bluntly, staring at the tail in question.

 Eren shrugged, reopening his locker and pulling his things out. “We’re all professional divers, and there’s a lot of training to swimming with your feet bound that needs to be done.  And practice, lots of practice. To swim in these things and look graceful while doing it isn’t exactly a piece of cake.” He laughed, reaching back to unclasp the pearl necklace from his neck, placing it in his locker.

“Those aren’t real, right?”

Eren paused from taking off the golden cuffs on his forearms to see Levi pointing at the necklace he’d just removed. “Of course not, they’d start dissolving when I have to swim in salt water.”

“Do you… _like_ pearls?”

Eren cocked his head. “Well yes… why?”  Then Eren seemed to come to an idea, and he raised an eyebrow, smirking all the while. ”Want to woo the mystical mermaid with treasure, do we?” Eren questioned, gaze anything but innocent. Levi could feel his face burning, and causing Eren’s expression to falter into a laugh, the sound light and Levi wanted to make him laugh again. “Relax, I’m messing with you.” Then he reassured, shutting his locker with the fake jewelry inside, “Or am I?” he added with a wink, before turning to open the door, Isabel's muffled complaints on the other side. How could he go so quickly between drop-your-pants-and-bend-over sexy to an adorable dork and back in the blink of an eye? It wasn’t fair.

“Maybe I am…” Levi murmured to nobody but himself.

 

 

Back in the public area , though now in the outside part of with the open air tanks for seals and stingrays and the like, as that was where Isabel requested Eren take them.

“I have to get going, but enjoy the Aquarium, yeah?” Eren patted Farlan on the shoulder, fist bumped Isabel, and whatever Levi was expecting was forgotten in Eren handing him a small folded piece of card paper, giving him a wink, just like the one back in the tank.

“It was nice meeting you!” He called without looking back, bag slung over his shoulder and bounce in his step. They watched him go until he was out of sight.

 

“So,” Farlan clapped his hands together, “I say we check out Sina Sting ray petting bay before we leave because Izzy still wants to see them, and then head across the street to that diner for an early dinner because there was nothing more filling than popcorn here. Sound good?” Farlan’s smile weakened when he was poked in the side, and turned to see Isabel with a hand over her mouth and the offending finger now pointing at Levi, who was still staring into the direction Eren had disappeared into.

Isabel hugged Farlan’s arm, and bit her lip to keep from laughing. “He’s got it _baaddddd_ …” she whispered, dragging out the last word.

“Completely enamored.” Farlan agreed.

“Whole heartedly infatuated.” Isabel continued.

“Unconditionally besotted.” Farlan countered, his mouth twitching upward into a grin.

Isabel grinned to match it. “Smitten on all ac-

“ _Oh._ ”

The couple paused at the sound, looking over to see Levi staring at the paper Eren had given him before they’d left. He flipped the card around to show them the messy scrawl.

 

_Pearls are not required to woo Mermen, just being a cute guy can work too. CALL ME_

Underneath the large letters was a phone number, along with another ‘meet a mermaid’ pass.

Levi smiled to himself, head full of images of white pearls and sea green eyes. “I think I’ve got a date.”

**Author's Note:**

> 'Part 2 will be ASAP' They say as they haven't updated anything in over 3 months  
> I WILL DO ME BEST  
> Feedback me, please and thank you.


End file.
